Study Abroad

Policies and Procedures:

The Honors College will apply the honors designation to credit earned during academic
study abroad experiences, and encourages the development of honors thesis credit
in conjunction with significant, immersive study abroad experiences of a full semester
or more.

In order to take advantage of these opportunities, students must follow the procedures
and fill out the application in the documents below to petition for the honors
designation for study abroad credit, or coordinate honors thesis credit in advance
of the student’s departure for the study abroad experience.

Please apply for honors credit
before the study abroad experience. Only in extraordinary circumstances
will we accept applications after the experience is complete.

Honors Credit for Study Abroad Experiences:

You can get the honors designation for credit earned on any WVU-sanctioned study
abroad experience, whether full-semester or full-year exchanges, faculty-led programs,
international research, or international internships.

Programs up to one semester long (including faculty-led programs with travel from
1-6 weeks) can earn up to 3 credits toward the completion of Honors College Requirements.

Programs that extend an entire academic year are eligible for up to a maximum of
6 credits toward the completion of Honors College requirements.

Programs that involve immersion in the host culture for one semester long (including
6-week summer sessions) or longer can form the basis for the honors thesis.

In order to receive honors credit, students must complete the following work:

A daily (or near-daily) journal or blog that documents your experiences abroad
in an intellectual context.
See full guidelines here.

An extended reflective paper (8-10 pages) or an innovative and substantive equivalent
(subject to Honors College approval), above and beyond the work already required
for the course of study. The reflective project should in some significant way
put your cultural experience abroad into conversation with a cultural, professional,
or intellectual issue current in your field of study.
See further guidelines here. Typically this project is due within one month
of your return to the U.S.

In order to use the study abroad experience as the honors thesis requirement, students
must complete the following work, typically due to the honors office within one
month of your return to the U.S.:

Complete the work described above for all honors study abroad experiences.

Submit a
significant piece of academic work from your credit-bearing activities abroad.
The project might be a paper or project submitted for a class, an internship
project, or some other evidence of your academic work abroad. If the most significant
piece of work is an exam, you may submit that if you have access to the final
copy.
You should be able to make a case in the application for how this course is important
to either your course of study or your long-term goals, or alternatively, propose
how a less-central study-abroad experience (e.g. language immersion) might
be consolidated with additional relevant coursework at WVU.

Submitting your Work:

You should submit your work within roughly one month of your return to the U.S.,
or if you return during the summer, within a week of your return to campus. Completed
work may be submitted to Dr. Clement by
email or by hard copy.

Once your work has been reviewed, a note will be placed in DegreeWorks. If the
credit you have earned while abroad is already in DegreeWorks (e.g. for a WVU faculty-led
program), it will be moved to your Honors block. If you are transferring
credit from an institution abroad, you should notify the Honors Office when that
credit appears on your transcript so that DegreeWorks can be updated at that time.